In my opinion, the elaborate packing of mooncakes is not the core of the problems. After all, people like to receive exquisite and beautifully decorated gifts.Under this circumstances, mooncakes are not for eating but are used as a way of strengthening relationships and setting up new ones. Both the buyer and recipient don't care so much about what is exactly in the gift.It's just a form.

But,besides this prevalent and boring custom which has just developed in recent years, ordinary people still like to enjoy delicious mooncakes and they have the chance now because the quality really improved beyond my imagination. In the past, I refused to have any mooncakes but now I enjoy them even after the festival. Unfortunately, I couldn't find them after the short festival and the price has gone much far beyong its quality. Even I want more, I can't afford that.Only two mooncakes cost the same as a decent lunch.

They should classify mooncakes for gift-uses and festival-uses. Otherwise, if we couldn't enjoy the traditional food of the festival at a reasonable price, we won't like the festival either. Then without fun, any festival would be redundant.

----------------------Quote: "Mooncake coupons are often given out by companies to employees, to exchange for the real thing. Or they can sell them to others at a discount to the mooncakes’ market price. The trading season is short and frenetic: the coupons are nearly worthless once the holiday is over. Like Christmas cake, mooncakes are rarely consumed out of season."-----------------------Oh God it's bad. Almost all bad news black news for China and the U.S recently. However, I think the moon cake coupons probably still a bit better then the papers of Lehman brothers. At least there are some good cakes to be eaten now.....

I always kind of liked moon cakes, but my wife can't stand them. They are often pretty dense though, you'd be hard pressed to eat more than a couple at once, so stodgy is a fairly good description.What I love is that the Central government is trying to get companies to make simpler packaged and therefore cheaper cakes, these must be the very last people in China who fail to grasp the basics of capitalism. The cakes are expensive because people want to give an "above average" gift. I'm sure every company could make cakes profitably for a few mao each, but how embarrassing to give such cheap cakes to someone.

The Economist merely uncovers the top of an iceberg on China's huge "derivatives market".In fact,there are not only mooncake derivatives, but also department-store derivatives, supermarket derivatives, restaurant derivatives and even barber-salon derivatives which collectively constitute a publicly known underground economy. Amazingly, unscrupulously huge exposure to this derivatives market can also be risky, not as much in the manner of Wall Street's nightmare as in the fashion of being invited to report to anti-corruption officials.

Mooncake coupons are not always used to bride officials or exchange for real things. Some companies in China give mooncake coupons to their employees as a favor to boost their morale or enhance relationship between employers and employees, which is something rarely seen in a western company.

Also, I feel someone here is exaggerating mooncakes to something related to matters of high finance. Come on, they are just mooncakes, easy to be made and only confined to consumption within a short time. There is nonthing in these mooncake coupons like the failing securities circulated among Wall Street financial giants.

East wind, you would think no, right? But did anyone see this (melamine) in baby formula's ingredient list before? Well I read this morning even regular milk contains that. And according to WSJ, the formula from SanLu contains 2500ppm (2500mg/kg) melamine. That's insane. You do not need any sophisticated detection method; just measure pH of the solution will tell you something is not right.

Seems the ends are hard to be made met. The problem with the hotel is the moon cake derivatives can only be circulated in certain circles, like, as the author said, the urban middle class. What if we make it another currency besides coins, or just call it Mac-coins?

above are traditional mooncakes ala southern China style.
and nowadays, modern concoction even include sharp-fin, and
bird nest which makes them more pricey. it seems they have
nothing more to add to,or make it for rich ppl only.